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Link to the service video.
Sermon transcription
So today is our third Sunday. We begin with the theme of this month living empowered lives. As we desire to disciple others and be discipled as well God empowers us right God gives us the ability to do his will and purpose. And in the last Sundays we express those in the passages that is given us. So the on the first Sunday we talked about empowered contentment how to live contented lives because of the grace of God that empowers us to be contented in all things. Whether in time when we have plenty or in time when we do not have anything. We are content because of the empowerment god gave us and then last Sunday Pastor Richard preach about strength in weaknesses or strength in weakness I will talk about it also as part of introduction later after we read our passage for today. So let us read our passage. If you have your Bibles with you you can also read it by your own version. 2 Corinthians chapter 4:16 to 18. 2 Corinthians 4:16 to 18. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal. Praise God for the reading of his word. Father God we thank you Lord for the opportunity to listen to your words. Thank you Lord God for the empowerment that you are giving us as we continue to live this life that there is nothing Lord that may stop our journey towards you towards the fulfillment of our hope that is found in you. So Lord God may we be enlightened by this passage that we are going to learn today by the power of your Holy Spirit in Jesus mighty name we pray. Amen. Amen. Most of us the church is our happy place right. We come here to be encouraged or also to encourage others. And in spite of the challenges in life we are braving it like we come here whether we have problems or not just because right and behind that of course is the desire to be in the presence of the lord amen to worship him and to be ministered by his word mainly right. But perhaps some of us you know feel sad or the pressure of the problem of the burdens that we carry and we cannot help but we come and try to put a smile on our face right try to not really appear that we are troubled we are sad. And that is the reality of life right. We cannot just live in a fantasy land where everything is okay and there is no troubles at all. But the thing is that some of us would rather not go to church if we are going through problems. We make excuses not to attend you know because I don't feel you know I don't want to be exposed or whatever it is. But I think brothers and sisters you know God has called us to be with each other in good and bad times. Right. We are called to help each other so that nobody cares a burden alone. Amen. Can you say amen to that? Because we are not immune to the troubles of this life. We are not immune to get tired or feeling depressed or feeling wasted. And I hope that this message we entitle this do not be dismayed that you know it will speak to us. It will speak to us in a way that as if you know sometimes when we hear these words do not be discouraged and the sermon will come across like it invalidates our struggles. a fault of the preacher and I don't exclude myself when people feel that the pastor or the preacher does not feel the have empathy to the sufferings of others as if suffering is not part of chris life as if we should always be on our best uh how do you call it best version of ourselves which is what is that what does that mean it doesn't really mean anything because in this world we are not immune to the ups and downs of life amen we have to to to be open as Christian when you are a believer you are not exempted to the storms of life. That's why last uh last week in pastor sermon um 2 Corinthians chapter 8 let's go there the next slide just as a review pressed on every side but not crashed. Perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not abandoned struck down but not destroyed. These are strong words. There are certain forces that wants to put us down and keep us there to not be able to rise up and back to our feet. Right. And what are these forces? I call this the four piece not the ayuda in the Philippines if you know what I mean. Four piece. We have four piece here and these are the predicaments. I did not write it there but anyway predicaments which are the circumstances where we are being pressured by the circumstances of life. Persecution it was there. It is there. It is the enemy at work against us. The opposition of Satan and his demons at work in against us. And then the third one is poverty. When we do not have the resources that we need we lack. We feel the needfulness for something we cannot move because we don't have it. And then the fourth one people even people relationships that is opposing our move forward. And in that passage it is as if saying that these are some kind of forces that try to how do you call that coordinate. They coordinate to stop us from growing on our faith from growing in our walk with the Lord. These are external forces. This is not from within. This is outside of us that are coming together all at once and trying to break us down. But wonderful passage that says that we uh we are not destroyed you know because God will not allow us to be destroyed because it is by the power of God that he is able to allow us to rise above these circumstances this persecution this poverty this relationships and uh overcome. We overcome because at the end of the day it is the work of God in us calling his will his purpose his desire to make us grow and we are empowered. Amen. There is a passage in Romans chapter 8:35. It says "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" Look at this. Eight. Is it eight or seven? Seven things that we can look. There are four piece here uh talking about troubles hardships dangers. These are the circumstances these are the predicament of life. Right. And then again persecution was mentioned there and there are there is poverty right in famine and nakedness. We do not have uh the nutrients. We do not have the food and shelter basic needs of life. And then the conflict with people conflict with others the sword. So these are external uh forces that try to put us down and keep us there so that we cannot stand right back up to continue in our journey with the Lord. So um that uh passage from uh chapter of verse 8 it's a continuation with this passage that we have in verses 16 to 18. It's supposed to be a one um idea but since it is a big enough idea we made it into two sermon. So uh Pastor Richard preach last Sunday and I continue on this Sunday on the idea that uh apart from external forces that works against us there is also from in us that is also working against us and this is what this passage is saying so the first thing here it says Do not lose heart though outwardly we are wasting away yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day so Paul acknowledged that there are not only the external forces that we have to battle against that wants to destroy our faith but there are also there is also this reality within in ourselves that weigh us down. Hence we are not immune to even the things within us you know our own s is even also starting to or attempting to stop us on our motion on our path towards uh the journey with the lord. So the first thing that we can notice in this passage is it says outwardly we are wasting away. It's not the external forces but it talks about our own body physical body right our physical condition. What does that mean? We are aging. We are in the process of aging. We are growing old uh and then we get uh sick right. And other factors um physical factors that goes with it. Even if you are young you are on your ascendance in life. If you get sick then you are stop in your trcks and then reality hits you that you are mortal right when you are young you just want to go on and on and on without sleeping just uh always in action but when you get sick you realize that you are weak and then there is the other part which is our mental condition right so these are two that ising against us in this passage mental condition when you are getting old you become forgetful or sometimes you are irritable you don't want noise right you don't want so many people uh so many things that happen and then you find that your attitude is changed physological changes as you grow older right but it says we are wasting away you know as we live day by day we are getting closer and closer to the end of our existence and there are two things here. Um first is our mind affecting our body. So it's not only that our physical condition is decaying or our mental condition is decaying but that our mental condition is affecting our body. There is called psychosomatic illness right it means our physical illness is caused or aggravat by our mental factors by whatever is happening in our mind and then our body whatever we are going through is also affecting our mind so it's vice versa is the same thing whatever we experience as we live it affects our mental state and that's why we are depressed that's why we are burn out that's why we get fatig that's why we are exhausted we cannot also deny the fact that it can be because of our sinfulness when we are living our life in disobedience to the lord you cannot you don't wonder why where you are getting sick right or where you are getting confused you don't know how where to go you get depressed and this sin factor unless we repent from it then we cannot grow out of this uh coagmire no um so to speak but you know it's not always about sin as I said when we understand Christian life as Paul understood it because he accepted the fact that this his own self is away he is decaying but that he said we do not lose heart amen we do not heart we go to the next slide pleas we do not get dismayed or discouraged. Amen. Uh we are becoming limited by the day as we grow older. Hello to my kaedad and but we do not lose faith right it is only when we are are losing faith as as uh earlier we said who can separate us from the love of Christ right it is about growing in walking in the love of Christ who will stop us from continuing to walk in the love of Christ. All of these external forces should not be able to stop us on our tracks but also even our own you know um dynamics physical dynamics shouldn't stop us to lose uh and lose faith. It should not separate us from the love of Christ. Amen. Why? What is the reason why? The next uh phrase in that verses yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. And I think that is the the wonderful uh hope that Paul is giving to the believers. The reality of uh weakening of our body is there. But we do not hope because our hope is anchored on the inakening. within us it is not weakening we are not uh being hindered but empowered amen can you say not hindered but empowered amen why because we are being strengthened we are being empowered day by day by day by day we sang the song earlier the steadfast love of the lord never seases His mercies never come to an end. They are new day after day after day after day because the Lord is faithful. Remember last Sunday pastor pastor said Romans 8:11 the spirit of God who rais Jesus the spirit of Godis Jesus from the dead. lives in you. Amen. The power that made Jesus alive after 3 days of being in that grave or in that tomb is the same power that is available for you and me today. It is the Holy Spirit who provides us this spiritual refreshing. Amen. We are being refreshed. They are new every morning when we wake up. New mercies are available for us. And we can say this is a new uh clean slate to live again when we rise up from our bend. Amen. He restores the Holy Spirit restores us. The Holy Spirit reinvigorate our inner spiritual self. Have you experienced that? You are tired physically and yet in your mind you know that undeniable grace of God is at work in your life. But why pastor am I depressed? Yeah. In your depression the Lord is speaking to your faith. The Lord is saying to you look up to the mountains. Look up to the heavens. Where is your health comes from? It does not come from your strength. Does not come from your resources. It does not come from being saved from all the troubles of life. It does not come from uh any other means but only by the Holy Spirit that strengthen us day after day. The Holy Spirit knows. He knows. Amen. He knows. We don't need to remind him. We don't need to say Lord have you not seen my state my uh awful you know beautiful state because the Holy Spirit knows our need. The Holy Spirit knows you need to be sustained. The Holy Spirit knows the spirit man in you is to continue growing walking by faith in your connection with Christ. It is the grace of God that strengthen us for whatever reason. What for what reason? So that we may persevere. Amen. So that we may overcome. So that we will not be uh stagnant wherever we are. Even though we are uh growing old even though we are uh having all this uh feelings in different parts of the body even though we always go to the uh to the house arts for our appointments and yet the Lord is saying inside of you is something there is something that will never grow old. will never grow tired will never grow weary will never be weakened. It will be strengthened day after day. What a wonderful promise and thank you Lord for that song. What a wonderful song. So the next verse that says our light and momentary troubles light and momentary uh easy and temporary achieving for us an eternal glory. What does that mean? Our decline is only in this life. It will not be forever. There is no forever in your suffering in your physical suffering in your mental suffering. There is no forever right. And your decline your decay is not that heavy. Why? First of all it is only for a short period of time compared to your eternal destiny your eternal outlook. You cannot compare your uh lifetime of suffering if even if you have a lifetime illness compared to the life of of eternity with the Lord right it cannot be compared so that hope is something that make you persevere in the Lord in your own state and reality and it is not heavy again we say this is not to invalidate our reality of struggles but the sense that it is easy at light because when compared to the hope that we have the hope that will soon be realized then we can say thank uh thank you Lord that even though I am suffering that it will not be you know for eternity there is an end to it and then I'm going to enjoy living my life you know the best possible uh way I think more than I can imagine. So it says there that let us fix our eyes. Let us focus on our eyes not on our temporal troubles. The temptation we have is to always think about our difficulties right. Lord take me out of this. I don't want this suffering. I don't like this. Blah blah blah blah blah. And so the Lord wants us to be patient. Yeah. Keep faith anak. Keep faith my child. H faith believe in me soon and very soon it will be over and you will be honored because you keep faith and that is what we need to hear every day you know there is hope there is always hope and it will be realized soon and very soon now is that ustration of a woman giving birth john 1621 one. So John 16:21 it is Jesus who said this. A woman giving birth to a child has pained because of her because her time has come. So when we have uh pregnant over there no when the and she has already experience uh giving birth so she knows uh the deal right so when time comes when she feels the birth tanks the birth panks is the uh uh periodic pain before the giving of uh giving birth right. Like every 5 minutes. I don't know how it works. I'm not expert on that. I don't have experience. But birth tanks okay the the mothers know this right. When you experience the birth tanks do you complain? Lord I don't want this anymore. I don't think that's absurd right because they know it comes with the package. There is a package package wonderfully wrapped no. And and Jesus said it beautifully. He said "But when her baby is born she what forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world." What a wonderful hope to look forward to. I can endure this. I can endure this decaying body. I can endure this illness. I can endure this because I know that it will achieve for me the reality uh the realization of my hope which is in Christ. That is what John Jesus said in John 16:21. There is hope of eternal glory that awaits you and me. Amen. So going back again to my introduction uh we we desire of course when we gather together that everything is is okay. But we cannot deny the fact that some of us are struggling. And I hope that as a community you knowing all of these things knowing that we have victory in the Lord Jesus Christ if we all if we know and if we really have victory in Christ then no one has to be suffering on his or her own. Amen. I hope there's no one suffering alone. I hope that we can be together. We can share each other's burdens. I hope that we can pray. I hope that we can reach out if that is possible to know that someone is hurting to reach out feel you know because this is what Paul says it is reality of life and we are not immune to it but do not be dismayed not let your hearts be troubled I will you with this passage in the last slide I think John 14 267 Jesus said but the advocate the Holy Spirit the father will send in my name will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you peace I live with you my peace I give to you I do not give to you Because the world gives no false promises of the world but Jesus promise his promise fulfilled. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Hallelujah. Father God we thank you Lord for your word. Thank you Lord for the promise of eternal glory for each one of your children God thank you Lord God for the encouragement that we receive from this word thank you Lord for reminding us that we are not immune to the troubles not the the uh from the external force at forces that us not from our own experience of physical physical limitations growing old getting sick because Lord we are being renewed day after day your steadfast love your faithful love great is your faithfulness that is being renewed day after they are fresh when we rise when we wake up in the morning new grace all together again. Lord God may you bless our brothers and sisters especially Lord for those who are going through difficulties in life. May you sustain them oh Lord because we believe that you want us to persevere and you want us to overcome and may we be there Lord for each other because that is your will and purpose for us as a church in Jesus mighty name we pray. Amen. Father God we thank you Lord for the power of your word. Thank you Lord God for sustaining us. We are being strengthened in inside of us. The Holy Spirit is at work. We believe it in our hearts Lord we embrace it. We welcome it Lord in our lives. And today Lord God as we uh receive your word we also pray for our tides and offerings. May you bless Lord uh this amount that we are giving back as part Lord of the blessings that you have given us that this may be used wisely Lord for the purpose of expanding your kingdom and for your honor and glory in Jesus mighty name we pray. Amen. The wave still rise as may rose yet you call me to step out once more. With eyes on you my feet stand strong. Your hands have holds me. You lead me. You are the God of the impossible. When I trust I will not fall. every step my fake will grow fixing my eyes on you alone the wind may how
Summary
The sermon titled *"Do not be dismayed"* addresses the challenge of enduring life’s difficulties, both external and internal, while maintaining faith in God. The pastor begins by acknowledging the struggles of the congregation, including physical aging, sickness, and mental fatigue, which can make individuals feel discouraged or disheartened. He emphasizes that these pressures—whether from life’s challenges, persecution, poverty, or strained relationships—are not meant to hinder spiritual growth but to remind believers of God’s power to renew and strengthen them. The message builds on Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, highlighting the contrast between temporary earthly troubles and the eternal glory that awaits followers of Christ. It also echoes Romans 8:35, which declares that no external force can separate believers from God’s love and encourages patience in suffering, as the Holy Spirit empowers and sustains the faithful. The pastor draws a parallel to the experience of a woman giving birth, explaining that even in pain, joy and purpose follow. He urges the congregation to trust in the "God of the impossible" and to support one another in times of hardship, ensuring no one suffers in isolation.
Take-aways
- The struggles of life—physical, mental, and relational—are not barriers to faith but moments where God’s power to renew and strengthen us should be fully recognized.
- Hope in eternal glory, as promised by God, is essential for persevering through temporary hardships, which pale in comparison to the lasting significance of our faith.
- The Holy Spirit provides daily spiritual refreshing, reminding believers that their inner being is constantly renewed, regardless of external challenges.
- Every challenge, whether from life’s circumstances or personal failures, is an opportunity to grow closer to Christ by focusing on the unseen, eternal realities of God’s Word.
- The church, as a community, is called to support one another in faith, sharing burdens and praying for each other so that no one walks through suffering alone.
Food for thought
- How can we balance acknowledging our struggles while holding firm to the belief that God’s power to renew us is greater than any temporary affliction?
- What does it mean to "fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen"? How might this perspective transform our daily experience of hardship?
- In what ways does the promise of eternal glory provide motivation to persevere even in moments of deep discouragement or physical decay?
- Can you identify times when your mental or emotional state has affected your physical well-being, and how might God’s grace specifically heal and uplift you during those periods?
- How does the idea of the church as a community of shared burdens inform our approach to supporting others, particularly in their times of need or isolation?